


They don't know

by momentofclarity



Series: Short fics & drabbles [4]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: First Love, Grown ups suck and ruin everything always, M/M, They Are Kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 07:52:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10737366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momentofclarity/pseuds/momentofclarity





	They don't know

He knows something is wrong, but they haven’t told him what it is yet. His mum and dad called him into the living room ten minutes ago and now they’re all sitting on the sofa, Harry in the middle, and he feels slightly suffocated. His mum is stroking his hair and his dad is leaning forward, hands in his lap, so serious it makes Harry’s belly tie in knots.

“What’s going on?” he asks and shrugs away from his mum. Usually he would gladly hug her and let her baby him but now it feels like she’s doing it as a precaution and he doesn’t like it.

His dad takes a deep breath before he says the words that will end Harry’s entire world.

“Harry, we’re moving to Bristol.”

Harry hears him but can’t make sense of it.

“I got a new job there, so we’re going to have to move.”

Harry’s head is buzzing, needle pricks of heat breaking out over his cheeks. “No.”

His mum puts a gentle hand on his back and looks at him with something like pity and for a second there he wants to push her off the couch. “Darling, it’s already decided. We found this great house and it has a room with a lovely view that we think you’re going to like.”

Harry just stares at her, his vision filling up with tears without his permission. “No.”

“Sweetheart, I know it’s not what you want, but it’ll turn out alright I promise,” she says, her voice dripping with sympathy and it’s the last thing he wants right now because what good does pity do when you feel like you’re breaking in two?

He rises up from his seat because he can’t stand to touch either of them right now, his eyes going back and forth between his parents. “I won’t, never, I won’t,” he says and shakes his head angrily. He can’t.

“We don’t always get everything we want Harry, sometimes we need to make decisions that are right in the long run but feel wrong in the moment,” his dad says, an adult talking to down to a child.

In his 12 years of life Harry has never felt fury like this, never felt frustration build up in his throat until he thinks he’s going to get sick on the carpet. “And what exactly are you giving up for this!? Nothing! And you didn’t even ask me! Didn’t even ask…” he chokes up as the truth of what is happening hits him.

They’re going to take him away from Louis.

Suddenly he can’t stand to be another second in their presence and he runs out of the room, shoves his feet into his trainers and slams the door shut - his mother calling after him in vain.

He’s running, furious tears falling down his cheeks as he crosses the street, makes it through the small park and down a block. When he gets there he wrenches the door open, runs up there stairs and throws himself on Louis’ bed before anyone in the house even has had the chance to react to his arrival. As he burrows his nose into the pillow, the scent of Louis surrounding him, he feels the anger fade into something else and a deep sob is wrenched from his throat.

“Haz?” Louis’ soft voice comes from somewhere behind him and then he feels the bed dip as Louis sits down, a tentative hand on his back. “What- what’s going on? What’s happened?”

All Louis’ words do is send another bout of sobs through his body. Because they are taking him away from Louis, from his best friend, from his… his.

“Please tell me what happened, are you hurt?” Louis asks and leans over his shoulder, trying to get him to look up.

Harry shakes his head and then he turns around on the bed to pull Louis down against him so he can put his face into Louis’ neck as he cries. Louis holds him close and tries to comfort him, his fingers working through the curls at the nape of his neck.

“Hey now love, calm down, it’s alright, it’s okay, please stop crying, everything’s alright.”

After what feels like an eternity, the tears seem to dry up and he’s left sniffling against Louis’ throat. Louis is on his back now and has pulled Harry close to his chest. Harry traces patterns over Louis’ soft t- shirt.

“They said we’re moving away. They said we’re moving to Bristol,” he says quietly, holding his breath in anticipation of Louis’ reaction.

Louis stills, a small “What?” leaving his lips.

Harry leans back a bit to look into his eyes, he knows he must look terribly blotchy and red but right now he needs to see Louis’ blue eyes. “They didn’t even ask me, they just said it’s already decided, dad got some job, they even found a house.”

Louis doesn’t react at first and Harry can tell he’s holding back, probably trying to appear more calm than he is because all he manages to say is a quiet, “Oh.”

“But they don’t know… they don’t know anything,” Harry whispers, his voice trembling, already close to tears again.

“Oh fuck,” Louis blurts out, tears welling up in his eyes as he reaches up to caress Harry’s wet cheek. “We’ll… we’ll figure something out love,” Louis says, always trying to comfort and protect him.

Harry lies down on Louis shoulder again, hugging him close. “I hate them, they don’t… they don’t understand.”

They don’t understand that Louis is Harry’s best friend, but also so much more. The one he’s shared every single thing with his whole life. Every secret he’s ever had spilled out in the space between them as they’ve been hunched under blankets, flashlights throwing sharp shadows over their features, or sitting on the roof of the park climbing frame, way past their curfew.

They don’t know that eight days ago Harry placed a quick peck on Louis’ lips and Louis smiled at him like it was a good thing. They don’t know that seven days ago Louis asked him to be his boyfriend and Harry said yes.

They are unaware of the single most important thing to have happened to anyone ever and now they are going to ruin it all.


End file.
